InterContinental Hotels Group, one of the world’s largest hotel groups by number of rooms, has signed an agreement with Kuwaiti-owned Almadina Real Estate Development to open a 442-room Crowne Plaza resort in Ras Al Khaimah.

The hotel is currently under development on the man-made Marjan Island, giving it the ideal seafront resort location for attracting leisure and business tourism, said a statement from IHG.

Scheduled to open in 2015, Crowne Plaza Resort RAK will span more than 18,000 sq m and feature nine food and beverage outlets.

These include an all-day dining restaurant with show kitchen, an alfresco dining terrace, a cigar lounge, two coffee shops, a pool bar, and traditional bar and nightclub.

Corporate guests from the region are well catered for with an expert Crowne Plaza events team and six state-of-the-art meeting rooms. The hotel's state-of-the-art leisure and fitness facilities will include a spa, fitness centre and beauty salon, as well as nursery and indoor souk.

The resort will be located on the 2.7 million sq m Marjan Island development. Close to RAK Airport and only an hour's drive from Dubai the resort is expected to attract both international tourists and local UAE residents.

Pascal Gauvin, IHG's chief operating officer, for India, Middle East and Africa, said: "The Marjan Island development is set to become an exciting destination, and it is the perfect setting for our first Crowne Plaza Resort in the UAE."

"Offering an idyllic beachfront setting, a fantastic selection of F&B options, and all the services and facilities you normally associate with Crowne Plaza, we expect the resort to set a new benchmark for the brand," Gauvin remarked.

Abdulmutaleb Khraibut, the member of the board, Al Madina Real Estate Development, said: "RAK is evolving into an unique tourist destination and we have secured one of the best locations in the emirate for our development."

"Combining this with IHG's management experience and the Crowne Plaza brand, we are confident that the resort will quickly gain popularity as a destination in itself," he stated.

Commenting on the new venture, Victor Louis, the chief operating officer, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, said, "We are delighted to increase our portfolio of international hotel brands by introducing the prestigious brand of Crowne Plaza to RAK, marking the entry of the first IHG property to the emirate."  

The resort will become the second IHG-managed hotel in the emirate when it opens, with an InterContinental due to open in 2014, said Gauvin.

There are 64 Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in more than 60 countries around the world, including 5 in the UAE. An additional 18 Crowne Plaza hotels are in the global development pipeline, he added.-TradeArabia News Service